Can we do this?

Replies

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  Ramani Aswath

  Shashank Moghe

  but if we can do this, I am sure it would be phenomenal.

  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. However, what is it that you propose?
  
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  Shashank Moghe

  I made this post in the Small Talks section, it has been moved to Café. I am sorry, I do not get what you meant by Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.
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  Ramani Aswath

  Shashank Moghe

  what you meant by Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.

  Meaning that if one wants to try something, one should venture to do it else it remains a wish.
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  Shashank Moghe

  😀 #-Link-Snipped-# SIr, I got the verbal meaning then and there, but the Assassin's Creed video threw me off. I propose nothing, although I would have appreciated people marveling at this cutting edge research, but it appears people are not interested in space science after all. Its the same Usual Culprits every post.
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  Ramani Aswath

  Shashank Moghe

  Assassin's Creed video threw me off.

  It is the spirit of trying to do something dangerous that was not done before that was the burden of the video.
  
  The catch is that we are talking of very very long distances and very very short lives. I have been fascinated by space travel starting from the stories of H.G.Wells and all other classic SciFi writers. Arthur C Clarke proposed communication satellites long before rocket engines were developed.
  
  However, if Einstein cannot be circumvented, interstellar travel is well nigh impossible.
  
  Humans labour under the delusion that we are the only intelligent beings in the universe. It is conceivable that there exists a species out there more advanced than us. It is possible that they are trying to locate other intelligence in the universe. Why has none found us in spite of the efforts by us to communicate?
  
  Maybe Einstein is right after all and the speed of light is the stumbling block.
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  Shashank Moghe

  Firstly, I totally believe we are not the only intelligent species in the universe, absolutely nothing special about us humans. Statistically, the odds of finding other intelligent life for us are the same as for them finding us. Of the trillions of probably inhabitable star systems, it is very likely, that "they" are having a similar hit and miss as SETI does (for SETI it has been a miss so far, but some positive leads). Besides, searching for life based on the spectrum of EM waves is a daunting task in itself (unless "they" have a better technique).
  
  That being said, I refuse to believe that Einstein cannot be circumvented. He was circumvented 12 years after he theorized the "biggest blunder of his life". He is just another scientist for physicists, not a demi-God (and this is good). After that, QM has circumvented Einstein's imagination a number of times, but QM holds. To me he is the most gifted human mind to ever be born till date, but I am equally sure that speeds = C is certainly not the upper bound.
  
  After all, we take it as the max achievable speed at Einstein's word, at the face value of GR. It has become ingrained (as was Newtonian gravitational physics when Einstein decided to circumvent it).
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  Ramani Aswath

  Newton's physics still holds in a restricted frame of reference. In fact all our mechanical fabrication systems surface tables, metal working machines and a host of metrology equipment still work on a flat earth concept. Earth within the confines of the tool room can be considered flat.
  All that I am saying is that why has it not happened before somewhere else? QM, action at a distance and all that may be true. However, communication between such is the problem.
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  Shashank Moghe

  Einstein dealt with longer distances. While Newtonian Physics does work fine on day to day scales, when talking about space physics, Einstein certainly was locking horns with Newton, and came out of the battle as the stronger. If you are talking about interstellar physics, GR and not Newtonian Mechanics is the benchmark. So any progress has to be made over the restrictions of GR.
  
  As for it not having happened before somewhere else, I would say there is always a first time. May be, in our galactic neighborhood, we are the most intelligent. May be, other civilizations do not give such communication as much preference as we do. Or may be, the cost of reaching out to us is astronomical (literally). All I am saying is, it will happen, there always has to be a first time. Besides, the fraction of habitable systems is so small, it is a fat chance we are missed in the oblivion of dead stars and other barren worlds.
  
  May be we are getting communicated with right now 😀
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  Ankita Katdare

  Shashank Moghe

  #-Link-Snipped-#

  I'll try to get in touch with some chief engineer from their team to feature in our Small Talks section.
  #-Link-Snipped-#
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  Shashank Moghe

  #-Link-Snipped-# that would be awesome! Thank you.